Page 3 of Where There's Smoke
“Yell at me later. Are you going to help me?” I said, shoving a carrier at him. “There're two kittens in that far pen. They can go in there.”
The firefighter in question wasn't wearing his face mask, so I could see the utter bafflement in his eyes. He had short, messy dark hair and bright green eyes, visible even through the smoke.
Thankfully, he didn't wait around too long, taking the carrier. He did as I told him while I scooped up a pair of old tabbies and tossed them unceremoniously into a carrier.
We had the two pairs in carriers. All that was left was the small old ragdoll that had come in last week. She was a bit on the spicy side, so scooping her up proved to be difficult, and I definitely got a few claw marks in my arm as I shoved her not so gently into the carrier, but it was worth it.
“Is that all of them?” the firefighter asked, nodding toward the side of the room where smoke was slowly starting to seep in.
I shook my head, my heart sinking as I remembered my new buddy. “One more, other side of the building. Two-week-old puppy!”
He nodded. “I’ll get them.”
Two other firefighters entered the room, and without a word, he handed them the cats, instructing them to get them to safety.
“I'll go with you. I need to get their food and medicine!”
“I can get that!” he shouted as his radio crackled.
“You don't know what I need!” I called out without looking back.
“You can't stay in here! The fire is growing!” I could hear the annoyance in his voice, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. There was a tiny dog who needed help.
I shook my head. “Follow me.”
Not waiting for his response, I sprinted across the rescue, narrowly missing the large cloud of smoke coming out of the kitchen. It was starting to get thick, and my throat was burning, my eyes watering as I tried to sink lower.
I was in the puppy room in no time, scooping up the little bundle of fur and wrapping a blanket around her to help her breathe a little easier. With her in one hand, I started grabbing her formula and bottles, thrusting them at the firefighter, who took them with an astonished expression.
Opening the cabinets, I was trying to find where the spare formula was, ignoring the smoke that was rapidly pouring into the room, when the sound of the firefighter cursing hit my ears. Before I could even register what he was doing, I was swept up into a set of arms and carried out of the building, bridal style.
“Hey!” I protested.
“You've got the puppy, and you've got some of the equipment. Now, you’re going to wait outside, you hear me?” he grumbled, carrying me straight outside to the fire engine and setting me on the ledge.
I could only gape at him. He had picked me, my supplies, and the puppy up like it had been nothing and carted us out of the building without a second thought. Part of me wanted to be mad at him, because he had stopped me from getting everything I wanted from that room, but I was also oddly impressed.
And then there was the gratitude seeping in as I realized just what was happening.
All thought quickly escaped when I took in my surroundings. The fire was no longer contained to simply the break room. Smoke was pouring out of multiple windows. The animals were out, which was a relief, but the rescue I had worked so hard to build was rapidly burning down in front of me.
That place was all I had. It was everything. My career, my home, and the only physical thing I had to show for myself, aside from the living animals I didn’t always see again. And it was…just burning. All of it was up in a whoosh of smoke, and for what? Some stupid burrito?
What could I do now?
My bottom lip trembled as I chewed it until I tasted blood. I had nothing. There was nothing left of everything I’d built, and insurance was only going to do so much. How was I supposed to live and work now?
There were only a few times in my life that I could remember being truly hopeless, truly terrified.
Tonight put them all to shame.
Chapter 2
Fitz
Standing next to the fire engine, I watched the blaze as it slowly fizzled out. Elliot and Freddie were working on the hoses, and the fire was well under control. Dylan had brought out carriers full of hissy little furballs, who were now chilling on the back of a truck a good distance away from the smoke.
Sadly, there was going to be no saving the structure. Most of the animals had already been evacuated when we’d arrived, and Samson had taken charge of evacuating the rest, with the help of the stubborn little woman he had carried out of the building.
